On My Way Home
by jam2599
Summary: It wasn't planned...none of this was. I never imagined that I would meet these people, or find what I was looking for, on my way home. I knew that he was out there, and I couldn't see anything else until that day. Sasuke story. AU.
1. Done

**On My Way Home**

**Chapter One: Done**

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"…_no…"_

_The boy bit through his lip and sobbed as he lay on the wet grass. His neck was wet and hot, and his body couldn't stand on its own._

_It was his fault. He'd known all along, and he hadn't told anyone._

_He cried out in anguish as he waited for his body to regain the strength he'd need to stumble home. The boy lay helpless in the total dark of the night._

_He…hated…_

_As his emotions turned the colors of the night he was trapped in, a soft voice whispered in his ear._

"_Boy…can you hear me?" it asked._

_His sobs caught in his chest and he fell still, all but for his pounding heart. The night was lit up suddenly, right in front of him, and the voice said, "Boy, have you suffered from it? From the attackers? From the hunters?"_

_The boy let out another sob, an angry cry, wordless and painful. He slammed his hand against the grass and growled, "Yes!"_

_The glow softened in compassion. "Would you like to…bite back?" it asked gently._

_He knew nothing else. The glow understood._

"_Boy," it said, "if you want vindication, then you must make sacrifices. And you cannot choose what you give up. Would you still like to fight them?"_

_The boy squeezed his eyes shut and nodded._

"_I'll do…whatever you need me to…"_

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Somewhere in the forest on that uneventful night, a blonde man with a flashlight in hand made his way home, whistling quietly to blend in with the forest life. The forest floor was wet with a fresh rain, and he carefully watched his step while idly swinging a plastic grocery bag full of potato chips, cookies, and tampons.

He stopped in his tracks when he noticed a gray lump two feet in front of him. One could sometimes find homeless people in the forest, alive or dead; it was a fact he'd grown used to since his family moved away from town. The others would've told him to do otherwise, but he usually called an ambulance for the ones that were in bad shape.

He carefully walked towards the lump, and surely enough, a man with dark hair was lying in a puddle in the middle of a tree cluster. Shrugging off his hesitations in favor of being a good Samaritan, he took a breath and walked right up to the collapsed man.

_Fuck, _he thought and he examined a worry-worn face, _he's really out, isn't he?_

The man's clothing was also spotted with blood. The blonde man frowned; well, some people back home knew how to take care of that kind of thing. He hoisted the larger body over his shoulders in a firefighter's lift and carried him home, with the other groceries.

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When the stranger awoke, he was not in the forest he remembered seeing last before his eyes closed from exhaustion. He sat bolt upright when he realized that he was in a pink room, a very pink room indeed, and lying on a full-size bed instead of on the muddy forest floor. He looked around; there was a window nearby, and he could see the same forest outside, or he presumed the same forest. He did not awaken with his arms and legs restrained, as he had on so many other mornings.

The door to the room opened and a man with silver hair and eyes of two different colors appeared. He smiled at the stranger, who met his warmth with shock and confusion. The stranger opened his mouth to speak but his host, or captor, cut him off.

"I see that Naruto brought something home again," the silver-haired man said with mirth, "though he hasn't dragged any strange animals home since he was thirteen. Well, his twin sister's always gotten onto him about--"

The stranger nearly jumped off the bed. "Who are you?" he demanded. His legs were weak under his body, but he wouldn't fall into captivity without a fight.

His host smiled. "Hatake Kakashi. I'm the father of the boy…well, I guess he's a man now…who brought you here last night to save you from the cold." His eyes swept the room. "Why on earth he put you in his twin sister's room, I have no idea…" he sighed. The stranger's eyes swept the room uneasily. "She _was _supposed to be out of town, along with myself, so she wasn't too happy when she came home and found a strange and dirty man sleeping in her bed. Thankfully, you slept through her scream. You should probably thank her when you see her--"

"Where am I?" the stranger growled. He gripped his arm as it burst into pain, and his host tilted his head to the side, gazing at his damaged arm for a moment before replying.

"You're in my house, young man," he said. "The house I share with my two children and my wife. I don't know how long you'll be here so I don't know what else to tell you. Are you trying to go somewhere?"

The stranger nodded. "I have to get to Oldorns," he said.

Kakashi looked the man over. He seemed to be about Naruto's age, but taller and not as well-built. His dark hair was dirty, as were his clothes, and he seemed to be in bad physical condition any way that he looked at it. His arm was obviously wounded, and Kakashi knew that his injuries might have gone beyond just that. The stranger probably hadn't eaten, either.

"Tell you what," he said. "I don't want you in my house either. Take a shower, take some of my son's clothes, have a bite to eat and I'll get you a motorcycle and a map. Oldorns is a good ways from here, so I'll give you gas money too." Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "The wife would have a _fit_ if she knew Naruto brought someone home…"

The stranger let the compromise soak in, and he sank back down to the bed before nodding as he lowered his eyes. "Sure," he said, stunned by the generosity.

Kakashi shrugged. "Okay, it's a plan. I'll send one of the twins in here to check on your wounds, too; she's good with that sort of thing." As he turned to leave, he stopped for a moment and back tracked.

"Son, you got a name?" he asked.

The stranger swallowed, then looked up. _This kind of person…wouldn't have heard of me. _"Uchiha Sasuke."

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The blonde man lazily swung his legs as they dangled between the posts of his room's balcony. He held onto two of the posts and rested his head against a third as he thought about the previous night.

He saw stars as a hand hit the back of his neck, nodding his forehead against the post. Yelping, the blonde man turned around halfway and rubbed his forehead as he made puppy-dog eyes at his attacker.

"Hi, Sakura," he said with an uneasy grin.

The pink-haired woman huffed as she crouched down next to him. "Did you sleep well, Naruto?" she asked with an evil grin.

He laughed. "Yeah, and you…?"

Sakura glared at him. "I have a crick in my back from sleeping on the couch! You'd better give me a massage or something…but put on gloves first, ew."

She joined him on the edge of the balcony, sitting with him as they had done when they were kids. "So," she asked after a minute of peace, "what's up with him?"

"The dirty guy?" Naruto asked. He resumed the swinging of his long legs. "I don't know, I just found him. You know it's not safe for people to be out while it's dark, Sakura."

She nodded, then sighed. "I see your good intentions, Naruto, but--"

He held up his hands and in a high-pitched whine, reminiscent of his younger years, cried out, "Look, Sakura, in all fairness I thought two were going to be in the city for a _whole _lot longer and I was going to have your bedspread dry-cleaned when you came back! Honest!"

Sakura smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Oh, whatever. He's kind of hot anyway, I just hope he takes a shower before I have to go look at him."

"He was pretty beat-up when I found him…" Naruto muttered. He looked up at the pink-haired woman's face. "You know, maybe he was just trying to go home and he got mugged and dumped in the forest. I mean, there were certain wounds--"

Sakura held up her hand, and he bit his words back.

Some things, couldn't be talked about. If you talked about them, they happened.

Sakura pushed herself back up and dusted off her clothes. "I think I heard the shower turn off," she said. "Come on, get your ass in your room and get him some clothes."

The mopey blonde man nodded and followed her back into the house. He locked the door to the balcony, though, and pulled the blinds.

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Sasuke regarded her rather uneasily. He wasn't sure of what the point of this little physical was…he was going to Oldorns, no matter what anyone said about his health. He had to admit that he felt better since breakfast, though.

Sakura smiled at him as he took off the sweater Naruto had given him. It had always been a little too baggy for the blonde, and was grey, which was not one of Naruto's colors. It seemed to fit the dismal stranger quite well, or so Sakura thought. He wore an old navy shirt underneath, also Naruto's.

She sat next to him on the bed once his sweater was off and he looked away during the examination. Sakura was immediately appalled by the series of scratches, cuts, and bruises on his arm…most of the wounds had started to close up, though. She wondered where he had received them, and she knew that he certainly hadn't gotten them last night as per Naruto's theory.

"So," Sakura said, trying to cheer him up, "you're going to another city?"

He glanced at her, making no attempt to answer the question.

Sakura smiled to herself. "You have family there?"

Sasuke suddenly pulled his arm away and turned around, ignoring the pain in his damaged appendage. "Fuck off," he growled.

His pink-haired nurse's eyes shot open, and she picked herself off her bed. "Well," she said in a falsely even tone, "I'll just tell him I examined you and you're all better, because I think that maybe you don't want my help." Sakura smiled and left him on her bed, slamming the door as loudly as she could as she exited the room.

Sasuke sighed when he was alone again. The woman had left a first-aid kit in the room, so he pulled out a roll of gauze and tried to bandage his arm. When that was done, he opened a little two-pack of aspirin, popped them in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. The bitter taste didn't bother him.

Sakura joined Naruto and Kakashi in the kitchen, where the blonde man had just finished preparing toast and eggs for the three of them. Seeing her mood, Kakashi poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her, straight-up black. He knew her tastes.

"How'd it go?" he asked her casually.

Sakura took a piece of strawberry toast and glared at the stairs leading to her room. "Oh, fine, just send him packing."

Kakashi nodded. "My feelings exactly. I don't need anyone else taking up space in this house…"

Naruto pouted and the older man smiled at him. "Not you, sonny, I can't kick you out just yet."

Back in Sakura's room, Sasuke had begun to contemplate his departure. As he stood to leave, though, he heard the distinct sound of…

His black eyes widened and he threw open the windows in the room. Surely enough, a small army of motorcycles had gathered outside the small house, all occupied by men and women from Sound, one of the two greatest gangs in the country.

He stumbled back towards the bed, and he sank down again, his heart pounding. _How did they find me…maybe one of the people in this house told them…maybe that man recognized my name, and he wanted the bounty…_

The stairs creaked with the sounds of footsteps, and Sakura threw open the door to his room. Ignoring the stranger, she walked over to the window and looked out.

"Who are they?" she asked, not looking at him. When he failed to respond, she spun around, glaring at Sasuke. "Are these your friends?"

The black-haired man shook his head. "I…I have nothing to do with them," he lied. A flash of yellow caught his eye and he walked toward the window in time to see Naruto talking to one of the men in the front, speaking as easily as if he was asking for directions.

_Idiot! _Sasuke's brain screamed. _Don't you know who those people are?_

He looked at the angry woman beside him. "What's that dumbass doing? Does he want to get killed?"

Sakura shrugged. "He wanted to talk to them, to ask them to leave. You know, since this is private property."

Sasuke stared at Naruto, and waited to see what the Sound's response would be. A few of the bikers pointed to him in the window; they knew he was there.

_And they won't leave without me…Kabuto, you double-crossing bastard!_

Naruto held up his hands as he walked towards the man standing at the front of the group. He smiled in a friendly way, and the tall man standing in front of him glared back.

"Good morning!" Naruto said cheerfully as he held out a hand. The man didn't shake it, but stared back at Naruto, unmoving.

Naruto uneasily lowered his hand and laughed a little. "Not your thing, huh? Look, you probably didn't know, but this is private property and it's illegal to trespass here, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You know, you can get arrested for that sort of--"

The blonde man's appeal was cut short when the leader caught him in the stomach with his fist, hitting him so hard that he doubled over and his arms fell slack. Naruto stared at the ground, wide-eyed, as a few of the other bikers laughed.

"Can you believe how uppity some people are?" one man shouted.

Naruto coughed but didn't fall to the ground, forcing himself to stay standing, to not let the gang have its way.

Sasuke stared down in shock, but told himself that it wasn't his fault. He had no reason to feel guilty if an idiot took a hit that was meant for him.

He glanced at Sakura, who had narrowed her eyes and begun to count the number of bikers.

_She's a girl, too…I know what they'll do to her…_

Sasuke resigned himself to fate. He should have known, after all, that the one person who'd tried to give him a hands-up since that night would just have been spouting empty promises.

_Then they'll have to kill me. I don't care what happens besides that…it's Oldorns or death. I have to go…if these other people die with me, then so what. I've been surrounded by death my whole life. It's not like they'll add anything to the tally._

So he stared, and watched, and waited, for the blonde man's life to be taken. Another grain of sand on a beach. Meaningless, like all the other lives.

And he was shocked when Naruto grabbed the fist in his stomach, twisted the man's arm, and threw him over his shoulder like a ragdoll.

"What the--" Sasuke choked out.

Sakura left her watching place at the window and felt around her collar. When she'd found a key hanging there on a chain, she unlocked one of the armoires in her room, wrenched open the doors, and revealed to Sasuke a stunning array of swords, spears, and stakes.

Sasuke stared at her as she trapped two swords to her back, her mouth turned down in a taut frown. Once he'd regained his voice, he said, "You people are…"

Sakura nodded tersely. "Don't worry about Naruto," she growled at him as she pushed past him, back to the window, "he can take care of himself. Maybe _you _should go find Kakashi and ask him to _please_ protect you so you won't die," she said as she opened the window, stepped onto the ledge, and jumped onto the ground from the second story.

Sasuke ran back to the window in time to see Naruto knock down another biker. They'd formed a ring around him by then, and he spun around, trying to keep an eye on his attackers when Sakura walked right up to them and began to attack the ring.

He stared at them, at the two people who'd tried to take care of him, as they turned from nobodies, from lines on a chalkboard, into…

"…slayers," he whispered. "Those are…slayers' swords."

Sakura knocked a particularly resilient biker to the ground and screamed a battle cry as she turned to fight another, keeping the two swords in place on her back. A few of the bikers who had yet to try to attack the bystanders pointed to the window, and Sasuke knew they were coming for him.

He ran downstairs, frantic, to see Kakashi standing at the front door.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks as he heard the front door creak and crack. Kakashi turned to him, rolled his eyes, and said, "You know, if they break the door then the wife will kill me…but if I let them in the house…" He sighed.

"Choices, choices…" the silver-haired man muttered as he unlocked the door.

Kakashi and the attackers were away from the door before Sasuke had time to shout, "Stop!", which is what he did when he realized which path the man had chosen to take. When the word had registered with the older man, though, Kakashi merely turned around, smiled, and said, "Don't worry. They're not going to get into this house. I have a marriage to think about."

And with that, he pushed the line back, away from the porch as he, Sakura, and Naruto fought the bikers.

Sasuke slowly stumbled to the door, then outside, as he watched his...protectors?...fight off the Sound gang members. If he had been more observant, or if his state of shock had been less severe, he would have noticed the helmeted figure who had already begun to retreat from the fight. He was surprised, therefore, to see the other bikers freeing themselves, or helping each other up from the ground, climbing onto their bikes and riding away.

Once they were gone, Sasuke sat down on the front porch steps, now dirty from the biker's boots, and held his head in his hands. He'd been found, and they would bring him back in now. Not today…it didn't have to be today, Kabuto had never been jumpy like that…but he wasn't free…

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke looked up to see an angry blonde man pointing at him as he stalked up to his sitting place. He glared back up at Naruto, but said nothing as Naruto stomped his way over.

"They were here for you, weren't they?" the blonde man shouted.

Sasuke gave him a cold look. "I have no idea," he lied.

Sakura walked up to him and grabbed his collar. Sasuke looked away as she hissed, "Look, we took you in, we tried to be nice to you, so the least you could do is tell us what the _fuck _that was all about."

Kakashi sauntered over. "Kids, settle down," he said in a bored voice. He joined them by Sasuke and Sakura released the dark-haired man, willing to let Kakashi do whatever he thought was right as she walked away to cool down. Kakashi leaned over so he was eye-level with Sasuke and, his usual smile gone, said in a gravelly voice, "I see that the Sound was after you. Now that they know where you've been, they'll come after my family and I doubt that my home is a safe place anymore."

Sasuke looked away. "Maybe you shouldn't have brought me here," he said in a low voice.

Kakashi shrugged. "We can't change the past. It seems like none of us have too much of a choice in the future, either." Looking over his house, he sighed. "I'll miss this place…"

Naruto stepped up from behind him. "Wait, don't tell me…"

The silver-haired man nodded. "We have to move. Your mother's not going to like this…" He shrugged. "Oh well, life out here was boring anyway." He looked down at Sasuke again, and the dark-haired man's face was full of resentment.

_What's he got to hate, anyway…_

"So," Kakashi continued, "as soon as the twins' mom comes home, we're going to pack up and go. And you're coming with us, too."

Sasuke's eyes grew narrow and he stood up, taking a step back so that he stood above Kakashi. "Why would I come with you?"

"Well, we don't have any place to go, and…" Kakashi smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen the road."

Sasuke gaped at him and Naruto nodded. "I think I've heard about some stuff the Sound's been--"

Kakashi held up a hand to cut him off, and Sasuke stared at Naruto. "No," Kakashi said firmly to Naruto, though he didn't take his eyes off Sasuke, "I'm sure that the things you heard were just rumors."

A few feet away, Sakura had calmed down. She'd caught Naruto's stray remark, and she agreed. _The Sound has been stirring up trouble recently…between us, and them._

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Notes: if you are confused then it just means that you actually read the story.


	2. Drive

**On My Way Home**

**Chapter Two: Drive**

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Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as the black-haired man sat across from him. They had both taken places on couches in the living room. The blonde was holding true to Kakashi's orders: _make sure he sits there and don't let him escape. If he tries to run away, drag him back to the couch and hold him there._

Sasuke had as of that time made no such attempts, but Naruto was determined to prove that he could follow that order. He was well-trained, anyway. He knew how to take orders.

Upstairs, Sakura threw her favorite clothes, shoes, and jewelry pieces into her largest suitcase, leaving behind the things she wouldn't miss too much. She took the watch Kakashi had given her, sliding it snugly into the netting on the inside of the suitcase before shutting it and setting the suitcase on her bedroom floor. It didn't matter anymore that were bedspread was ruined; she'd never sleep there again.

She moved onto her weapons closet when she was done. Those things…were much more important. Her first sword was still in there, a short little thing with a pink handle. She slipped that into her suitcase too; she wouldn't use it anymore. It just wasn't practical.

Sakura threw a few things from her shower into a small duffle bag, looked around her room once more, and then took her things downstairs. They'd bring the weapons to the van later, when its owner arrived.

Naruto looked up, his expression lighter when Sakura joined him in the living room with her things. She smiled and nodded at him, relieving him of his guard duty for however much time it would take for him to pack his own things. Setting her suitcase against the wall closest to the front door, she walked over to the couch on which Naruto sat. The blonde man nodded back and bounded up the stairs with a sigh of relief.

Sakura sat down across from Sasuke in a prim manner and put one arm over the back of the couch to try to relax. He scowled at her but just crossed his arms and said nothing.

They had sat in near-silence for several minutes when the front door burst open. Sasuke stood, ready to flee, and Sakura tensed, ready to fight.

Once she had seen that the newcomer was a dark-skinned man with brown hair up in a ponytail and a scar across his nose, though, she sat down again. Sasuke glanced between her and the dark-skinned man, not sure of what to make of the situation.

The newcomer seemed to know what to make of it, though, and he strode up to Sasuke with fury written all over his face and posture.

"Who are you?" he shouted. Sasuke took a step back and raised his arms to protect himself from any oncoming attacks. Sakura made no move to protect him, though.

When Sasuke didn't answer, Sakura sighed. "Iruka, calm down. I know there's a big mess outside but it doesn't matter too much anyway. And this guy's, well, a homeless guy I think."

Iruka tore his eyes from Sasuke and turned to Sakura, the rage gone but his cut-and-orderly attitude still present. "Where is your father?" he asked her.

She pointed up, and he took off in the same direction as Naruto had minutes earlier, his footsteps cracking stairs as he stomped and shouted, "Damn it all to hell, Kakashi!"

Sasuke sat back down on the couch, his face unnaturally pale. "Who was that?" he asked Sakura.

"Well, my dad calls him 'mother', or at least that's what we're supposed to call him," she said, looking up the stairs as if she was waiting for something to happen, "but I really just call him Iruka."

"Kakashi, did you bring your work home?" the same loud voice shouted from upstairs.

In a more muffled tone, the silver-haired man replied, "No, honey, you'll have to ask our brilliant son about it."

There was a pause. Sasuke found himself staring up the stairs, too, wondering if this argument and this newcomer…a mother? what?...would change the family's plans concerning him.

"Oh, no Kakashi. Oh, God no. I KNOW THAT IT'S NORMAL FOR YOU AND SAKURA BUT YOU CAN'T DO THESE THINGS TO THE REST OF US!"

The upper floor creaked under quick footsteps, and Naruto tried to soothe Iruka. "It's all my fault, Iruka, sorry. I didn't know that people were after that guy. Please don't yell at Dad…"

The shouting stopped, and footsteps took the blonde man back to his room. Sakura and Sasuke listened to the two older men talk quietly upstairs, and Naruto trudged down the stairs a few minutes later holding a suitcase and a backpack. He took a seat next to Sakura, who moved to make room for him, before resuming his Sasuke-watching position.

"…has he tried to move?" the blonde man asked. The woman beside him shrugged. "I don't really care," she said. "How 'bout you watch him?"

Sasuke tried to sink back further into the cushions of the couch. These people would take him to Oldorns…he kept telling himself that. They seemed incredibly unstable, though.

Kakashi and Iruka ambled down the stairs a few minutes later, each holding a suitcase. The silver-haired man sat his down almost immediately as he began to take one last tour of his house, while Iruka looked around the living room, grabbing photos off the walls and the mantle.

"So, we're going to Oldorns," Iruka said in a frighteningly calm tone. He picked up graduation photos of a girl with pink hair and a blonde boy, as well as photos of himself and Kakashi wearing tuxedoes as they stood under an arch decorated with white flowers. "Haven't been there in …ever."

Sakura looked away, trying to ignore his venting.

"What's in Oldorns anyway?" Iruka growled.

Kakashi came back from the kitchen. "Don't know, don't care," he said. "Just got to get there." He waved to his kids and the stranger. "Come on Naruto, let's make sure the motorcycle works. Sasuke, could you go help Sakura bring weapons down? We're going to need them to keep you alive so you should put a little back into it, huh?"

Sasuke scowled before following Sakura back up the stairs. He watched Naruto disappear outside with Kakashi.

Sakura unlocked the cabinet once more and opened the doors. "Grab the swords," she said. "The spears won't fit in the car."

As soon as he reached for a pair of swords, though, she saw his hands shake. "Tell you what," she said, grabbing the swords for herself. "Get the stakes, all you can. There should be a few messenger bags in my closet; just through them in one or two and bring them downstairs."

Sasuke walked over to her closet as she pulled out three pairs of swords. The pink-haired one looked over the others and shook her head before she stepped back to make room for Sasuke. "Can't bring them all…" she said in a soft voice.

He knelt down and, by her instructions, picked up a few pairs of felt-wrapped, metal and wood, slaying stakes. There were surprisingly heavy, and he took that into account as he filled the bags he'd found. A few of the pairs were joined with a chain; he didn't know what to do about those, so he just threw them in with the others.

"Don't take all day," Sakura said. Sasuke pushed himself up and glared at her as she regarded him coldly. "Come on, we need to hit the road. Those guys might come back and tear us to pieces." She rolled her eyes as she turned around. "It's hard enough with one normal person to protect…try two…"

The word normal struck him, and against his desire to not talk to Sakura, or anyone for that matter, he asked, "By normal, do you mean someone who's not a slayer?"

"Yeah," she said without looking at him. "Weak people, you know?"

He frowned as they descended the stairs. They both noticed that the others were outside, and Sakura didn't break her stride as she threw open the front door to the house for the last time and let Sasuke through.

Sasuke was surprised to see a very sturdy-looking van sitting outside the house. The back was open, and four suitcases and an array of smaller bags lay stacked there. Iruka stood behind the van, looking over the packing arrangement as he regarded the items that Sakura and Sasuke carried. Sasuke noticed that the dark-skinned man was carrying a laptop case, and carried a gun.

That caught his attention. Guns had been banned for years, ever since the Birthing. Iruka saw the look on his face and frowned.

"I'm a cop, okay?" he snapped. Sasuke looked away as Iruka took the swords from Sakura, the weight more of an issue for him than it had been for her, and he wrapped each in a towel before fitting them snugly in with the rest of the luggage. He nodded at the bags Sasuke carried.

"Give one of those to Sakura and keep one for yourself for now. Never know when we'll need those," he said. Sasuke removed one from his shoulders and gave it to Sakura. She nodded, nothing more.

The sound of a motorcycle engine nearly gave Sasuke a heart attack as Naruto slowly rode a black bike out of the garage. He checked a few of the gauges before giving a thumbs-up to the silver-haired man who walked out from behind him. Kakashi walked over to Iruka and took charge.

"There's not much room in the van, so it'll be Iruka and me up front, Sasuke and one of the twins in the back," he said. Sakura and Naruto nodded; Kakashi continued. "The twins will take turns on the bike. Everything's packed?" he asked Iruka.

The dark-skinned man nodded. "If you call what we could fit in a van, everything."

Sasuke fought back a pang of guilt. _Not my fault, not my problem._

Kakashi ignored his comment. "Good, then let's get in the car and go," he said, giving Sasuke a look. Sasuke looked away and walked around to the driver's side to sit behind Kakashi. Once the others were in the car, Naruto started the motorcycle back up and followed them.

His stomach growled as soon as he left the property, and he turned back once. _Bye-bye, _he thought. _No more nostalgia…_

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Sakura slept in the car. Sasuke stared out his window, wishing that Kakashi would just ignore the speed limits and go ninety all the way to Oldorns. Iruka tapped on his laptop, hitting the side every minute or so in frustration.

"Damned wireless network…" he said.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know they had them out here."

Iruka glared. "Sometimes you can find connections in weird places."

"…bullshit."

The dark-skinned man turned away from Kakashi and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number that didn't make any difference to Sasuke. Iruka waited through two rings in near-silent frustration before someone on the other end picked up.

"Hey, it's me…you won't believe what SHIT just happened to me…no, not that. We just got attacked by the Sound…no, not me, the family. I wasn't even there. Yeah. Ask Tsusie if I can get that damn grant already…thanks…yeah, I really appreciate it…you know, I guess things just happen at the right time…" he laughed uneasily and glanced at Sasuke, who scowled back. Iruka frowned at him before returning to his phone conversation. "Thanks, I'll call you any day. Bye, Gai."

He clicked his phone 'off' and shut his laptop, tuning to Kakashi. "They're finally going to give me that undercover clearance."

"I thought you didn't want that job," Kakashi said.

Iruka's mouth drew itself into a taut frown. "Well, I don't have much CHOICE right now, Kakashi," he growled. "If we're going on the road and if we're under attack and I can't go to the station then I might as well do something for that job the captain's been wanting me to take."

Kakashi shrugged. "Suit yourself." His eyes, one black and the other red, flickered back towards his other passengers. "Sasuke? Sakura? Are you two doing fine?"

Sasuke glanced at the sleeping woman before replying, "Okay."

Kakashi nodded. "That's good, that's good," he said in an uninterested way. He checked for Naruto in the rearview mirror; surely enough, he was still back there.

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A woman with long brown hair stalked down a dark hallway of Akatsuki's main safehouse. She held a phone in one hand displaying a very important text message:

FOUND THE BRAT. ON THE LOOSE. MUST STOP HIM. NOT TOO LATE.

Her path took her to the gym, where she found the girl she was looking for. The pale-eyed girl looked away from the punching bag she'd been working at, holding the swinging tube to keep it from distracting her debriefing. She slid off her gloves and walked over to the brown-haired woman.

The woman dropped to one knee out of respect. "Miss Hinata, I have a new mission for you," she said, keeping her eyes to the floor.

"U-um, thank you so much, Hana," Hinata said. "You may stand and deliver the message."

Hana stood and showed the message to Hinata. The pale-eyed girl's eyes widened and she nodded. "I'm to take your brother and the other guard with me, as usual?" she asked timidly.

Her messenger nodded. "You are to leave at once. The higher-ups have found a few towns where you might find them, and the leader is even allowing you to travel by helicopter to meet the time requirements. Go pack your things; I'll send your guards to your room." Hana waited for her next order.

Hinata smiled weakly. "You are dismissed," she said. Hana saluted her and left the room, allowing Hinata time to prepare for her mission mentally.

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Naruto groaned as he filled the motorcycle's tank. The sun had already set and they were still so far from Oldorns…bored, he left the pump for a moment and wandered over to the pump the others stood around as they refilled the van. Iruka complained about gas prices and Naruto tried to tune him out.

Sakura stretched her arms and legs, having finally awoken. She smiled at Naruto as he sauntered over.

"Hey, Sakura," he said with a wave. Naruto glanced at Sasuke, and Sakura shrugged, choosing to leave his company for Naruto's. The dismal man frowned and leaned against Iruka's van, folding his arms. He'd pulled Naruto's old sweater back on by then, and his body looked shapeless and the opposite of eye-catching.

_Good, _he thought.

"Hungry yet?" Sakura asked him.

The blonde grinned and patted his stomach. "Not too much. I'll probably just get something later. Enjoy your nap?"

Sakura stretched and sighed to show that yes, she had.

Sasuke started to tap his foot impatiently. _I can't say anything about it to them but we need to get back on the road. We've hardly covered any distance and the worst part is that none of them seem to care._

Kakashi returned from the station's store with arm armful of bottles. He handed them out to everyone standing outside the van, even to Sasuke, who took his with hesitance before forcing himself to say, "Thanks."

Having done this, the silver-haired man turned to his company. "So, we'll just keep going until we find the next town," Kakashi said. Iruka looked up from the map he was studying on the car's hood and nodded.

"We'll check into the first hotel with vacancies. Iruka should be able to get his boss to cover the expenses later, so I don't care too much where we stay." He nodded at Naruto. "Son, keep the bike for the night. Sakura will have her turn tomorrow."

Naruto nodded. "Not too much longer anyway, right?" he asked.

Sasuke scowled. _Do you people have no regard for time?_

A soft buzzing noise arose overhead, and Sasuke looked up for just a moment. He covered his nose as blood begun to seep out, and excused himself to the restroom. As Naruto followed him to make sure he wouldn't try to escape, Sasuke cursed under his breath.

_Not them…how did they find me already?_

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Naruto smiled at Sasuke easily as he sat down on one of the hotel beds. "So, I bet you're glad we're taking a rest break, huh?" he asked conversationally. Sasuke had grown rather frustrated by that point so he almost refuted Naruto's statement, but the blonde talked over him. "I know that most people can't live on Sakura's and Kakashi's schedule. I heard that they wanted to plough on ahead but Iruka put his foot down for the rest of us." He removed his gloves and jacket as he spoke, his blue eyes completely missing the aggravated expression on Sasuke's face.

"It might have been better if we'd have gone," Sasuke muttered.

Considering this briefly, Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. I'll just do what Iruka says; I gotta watch out for him. No point in arguing with Iruka, I think."

Sasuke scowled before sitting on the other bed in the room.

"So," Naruto said as he leaned back on his bed, turning partway to face Sasuke, "what're we on the road for? You have a girlfriend in Oldorns?"

Sasuke stared ahead at the wall, silent. Naruto waited for a moment before brushing past the fact that he hadn't answered. "Okay, it might be silly to go through all this trouble for a girl, unless you really loved her I guess. So why is the Sound after you anyway?"

"They're not," Sasuke lied.

Naruto gave him a look. "Well, I don't really know the whole story or anything but I'd say that they're after one of us, and it's probably you. Maybe you should, you know, consider that a possibility."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and unconsciously checked the skin between his nose and mouth. No blood.

Naruto sighed and pushed himself off the bed. "I'm hungry," he whined as he grabbed his jacket. As he pulled it back on, he turned to Sasuke. "You want anything, man? I'm gonna head out to grab a bite and I can bring you something back."

Sasuke turned towards him and, after a moment of empty staring, said, "Anything would be good…thanks."

Naruto nodded happily. "Don't run away while I'm gone, okay?" he joked as he backed out of the room. He gave Sasuke an 'I'm watching you' gesture before bursting into laughter as he exited the room.

Once he was gone, Sasuke took off his sweater and shoes and laid down on top of the covers. _Maybe those ones from before have passed. I don't need Akatsuki following me now._

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"Miss Hinata?"

The pale-eyed girl turned quickly to see one of her guards waiting behind her in the alley. The other kept a lookout on the other side as they waited for any sign of their target's vehicle.

She smiled uneasily. "What is it, Shino?"

The stern guard, only a few years older than herself, nodded at the street they were watching. "I'll watch for you. You may go back to the hotel room if you'd like."

She blushed. _I could almost hug these two sometimes!_ "No thank you, Shino. It was a very generous offer, though."

Hinata turned around and kept her watch. Shino frowned and made sure to watch out for his superior's physical state. _I'll get an earful at home if she faints again._

Her other guard, Kiba, stalked over from the far end of the alley. "It's a dead little street," he said, shaking water from the ground off of his shoes. "Just a couple of prostitutes down there."

Hinata blushed at the word, but Shino just nodded. "It's the same thing down here," he said. "Perhaps we should try another area."

"This is the most heavily-used street in this city," Hinata reminded them. Kiba and Shino immediately nodded in agreement with their superior.

She turned around in time to see a blonde man walked down the street. He stopped to talk to a prostitute, who backed away from him as soon as he'd spoken and started to run in the other direction. The man held his head in his hands for a moment before walking on to the next one, who merely shrugged when he'd said whatever it was he needed to say and pointed to an abandoned building. The two walked off together.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Hinata cried out. Shino and Kiba immediately ran to her side, the former checking her over for wounds and the latter looking over the area for any trouble.

"Miss Hinata, what's the matter?" Kiba asked when he hadn't found anything.

Shino frowned and looked into his superior's eyes.

She blushed. "I just saw a r-really good-looking guy pick up a p-p-p-p-prost-ti…"

Kiba sighed. "Oh, that blonde guy," he said. Then, her words struck him and he ran back to her side. "Wait, you said that you thought he was attractive?"

"R-really…" she said, stuttering as her blush grew.

He caught Shino's eye, and they both nodded. "If you think he's attractive, Miss Hinata," Kiba said, turning back to her, "then you know what that means."

Hinata's eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock. "Oh, my, he's one of…us?"

Shino nodded.

Her heart began to race. She didn't know what one of her kind would do with a p-pr—woman of the night, but if he was one of their kind then…

She blushed. _I'd like to…talk to him, maybe._

All three of them turned around when they heard the rustle of a coat. Shino spotted a figure at the end of the alley and chased it, but the helmeted stranger was out of sight all too soon. He scanned the area and wished that, no matter who that person was, that they were not after the life of the girl it was his duty to protect.

_The weakest child…_

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Sasuke awoke when the door to his hotel room was slammed open. He immediately rolled onto the floor on the far side of his bed for cover, and peeked over the mattress to see none other than Naruto standing in the doorway, staring at him as if he didn't know what to make of him.

"…hi there. Is that…fun or something?" the blonde man asked him.

Embarrasssed, Sasuke frowned as he picked himself up. "You should be more careful when you're around sleeping people," he said in a terse voice.

Naruto shrugged. "I mean, you knew I'd come back sometime tonight…" he sighed and pulled a burger out of the paper bag he was carrying, handing it to Sasuke. "Eat up, okay? We might get something else on the road tomorrow but Kakashi can go, like, days without eating, so there's a chance he'll forget about the rest of us."

Sasuke took the burger and began to eat in silence. The blonde sat down on his own bed and unwrapped a sandwich.

Something about the way that Naruto and his sister referred to their parents had bothered Sasuke. He thought over it and could only remember either of them calling the older men 'dad' or the less sensible 'mom', one time. Though Kakashi had spoken of a wife, and of Naruto's and Sakura's mother, he had seen no such person.

He paused for a moment, and pulled the burger away from his face as he looked up at Naruto. The blonde smiled back contently until Sasuke asked, "Is that other man your 'mother'?"

Naruto tiltled his head to the side and swallowed the bite that he'd taken. "Well, my dad always calls him that. Actually…" he thought for a moment and shook his head. "Actually, they're both kind of like my dad, I guess. Oh, they're gay if that's what you were wondering. I don't know where my real mom is, but Iruka's taken as good care of me as any real mom, I think, so it's okay." He stared off for a moment before smiling at Sasuke again. "What about your family?"

The black-haired man lowered his eyes. "They used to live in Oldorns." he admitted softly.

Naruto's blue eyes widened. "Oh, so we're going there to see them?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe. They're not really…there anymore, though. My family."

The room fell quiet.

"Oh," Naruto said. "Well, I guess I can see why you'd still want to go back. I don't really care about ever going back to my old house, though; my home is wherever Iruka goes. As long as I'm with him, the place doesn't matter too much."

Sasuke said nothing, and began to eat again as he felt blood gush out of his nose. He dropped the burger and covered his nose with his hands as Naruto rushed to him.

"Holy shit!" the blonde man shouted as he tried to pull Sasuke's hands away to see what had happened to him. Sasuke jerked out of his reach and muttered, "Fuck…FUCK!" His black eyes scanned the windows and he walked over to one and threw it open. A girl and two young men just a little older than her stood outside their hotel, looking over the rooms from the outside.

Naruto ran to the window and looked down at them. "Are they from the Sound, too?" he asked, turning to Sasuke in time to see more blood gush out of his nose under his hands.

"No," Sasuke snarled. _When I react like this, they're…_

He turned to Naruto. "You people are slayers, right?" he asked, his tone urgent.

Naruto nodded slowly. "It's really just Sakura and Kakashi…I'm one, too, but I'm not as good as they are, and Iruka isn't one at all. Why?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure if the other would believe him, but….

"They're vampires," he said in a low voice.

Naruto stared at him for a moment, a blank look on his face, and Sasuke worried that the blonde man thought he'd lost his mind. There was also the chance that Naruto just plain wouldn't believe him because he wouldn't understand that Sasuke could pick out vampires from normal humans without seeing them go into hunting mode.

"…I'll go get the others," Naruto said. Sasuke watched him, and Naruto nodded before walking out of the room and knocking loudly on the others' doors.

When Sasuke looked out the window again, the three vampires had disappeared. He cursed as he tried to hold back the flow of blood with his hands and ran out of the room in time to see Sakura leave her own room, swords on her back, armor on her body and boots on her legs.

She stared at him and walked over, animosity forgotten, as she tried to pull his hands away from his face. "What happened?" she asked.

"I didn't walk into a wall, if that's what you think," he spat.

Sakura glared at him. "Do you have frequent nosebleeds?" she asked, letting his hands go.

Sasuke just looked at her for a moment. "…yes, I do." he answered.

She sighed. "Never mind, then. We're going to go slay the ones that were waiting downstairs. Stay up here with Kakashi and--"

Her words were cut short when the sound of breaking glass tore their attention to Iruka's and Kakashi's room. Sakura ran over, threw the door open, and looked around the room.

Iruka crouched on the floor, his gun drawn and aimed at the girl who had crashed through the window. It seemed as though Naruto had been in the room when she'd entered, because he was lying underneath her on the floor as she held his arms down and pinned his torso down with one leg.

Her eyes widened when she saw the man underneath her, and Naruto threw her off of his body easily. The pale-eyed girl hit the wall but seemed unphased. She stared at Naruto for another moment before looking towards the doorway, her eyes fixed on Sasuke.

"T-target found," she whispered into a microphone on her neck.

"We're heading your way, Miss Hinata," a low, scratchy voice replied.

Back in the hallway, two hotel rooms burst open at the same time as two young men, one with wild brown hair, animalistic brown eyes, and red triangles painted on either cheek, and the other with a brown afro and sunglasses ran into the hallway on either side of Sasuke. Sakura cursed, pushing Sasuke down to the ground as she drew her swords to defend him.

Naruto glanced at the pale-eyed girl and ran into the hallway as well, jumping over Sasuke to meet the man with the afro. He fought bare-handed, unlike Sakura, and seemed to have some trouble with his opponent when his attacks were easily evaded.

Sasuke turned his attention to the girl, who stood still as Iruka refused to pull his attention or his gun away from her. She smiled weakly as she walked towards Iruka. "Come on," she said softly. "Please put your weapon down; there's no reason for anyone else to be hurt."

The wild-eyed man ducked past Sakura's swords and ran back towards the room. "Miss Hinata, are you alright?" he shouted. Sasuke stiffened as the man almost caught up to him, but the brown-haired man didn't spare him one look, his focus on the girl in the room.

"Yes, Kiba," she called out in a soft voice. Back in the hallway, Naruto managed to get a hold of his opponent, and when he had he threw him as far down the hallway as he could and ran back to Sasuke, ready to defend.

He didn't know too much about what was going on; just that the vampires were after Sasuke. They'd tried to hurt Iruka too…he turned to glare at the girl waiting in the room. "What do you want?" he shouted at her.

Hinata raised one hand to her face and backed away. "Well, we…can't tell you that." she said softly. Naruto scowled and turned around in time to catch his opponent's arm as he attempted to punch him.

Hinata watched the fight outside uneasily. The good-looking one didn't seem to want to hurt Shino, but she was afraid that the woman would hurt Kiba…_it's their responsibility to look after me but that doesn't mean that I seem them as disposable._

She yelped in surprise as a person, a rather large person, dropped down from the ceiling and held a stake against her heart. The dark-skinned man in front of her lowered his gun and breathed a sigh of relief as Hinata's silver-haired captor said in a low voice, "Little Miss, if you want to live then you'd better leave right this instant."

The fight outside had stopped, and both men in the hallway fell still where they stood as they looked in the direction of the room. Naruto and Sakura held them back as they shouted, "Miss Hinata! Are you alright?"

Kiba glared at Sakura. "What are you going to do to her?" he growled.

Sakura glared right back. "What do you want with Sasuke?"

"None of your business," Shino said as he looked from one side of the hallway to the other. "We will leave if we can take Miss Hinata back safely," he added, to the surprise of the others.

Kiba nodded. "Let her go and we'll let you have one day to leave this place."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he'd heard. _There's no way that they'll hold true to that…no way…please don't tell me that the others will believe them…_

"I'm sorry, Shino, Kiba," Hinata called apologetically as the cold metal tip of the stake was pressed into her chest. Kakashi had started to sweat; he didn't want to release her, not when he had a vampire in his grasp.

Iruka looked past Hinata and at Kakashi's face. "It's your call," he said. "You're the slayer."

Kakashi nodded and released Hinata. She blushed in embarrassment before turning around to bow to him in thanks.

"Thank you for your g-generosity," she whispered. Kakashi shrugged and she walked past him, stood shakily on the window sill, and jumped out the way that she had come. The two men that Sakura and Naruto had fought turned and ran back into the rooms they'd come from, and the young slayers did not take their eyes away from the doors their opponents had run through until Kakashi walked into the hallway and said, "Go check those rooms to make sure they've gone," in a low, commanding voice.

Naruto and Sakura nodded and followed the older man's orders quickly. Once they'd gone, Iruka joined him in the hallway with Sasuke and took in the dark-haired man's appearance. Sasuke turned away, then stood slowly and began to walk back to the room he'd been told to share with Naruto.

"What's wrong with your nose?" Iruka called after him. Sasuke stopped for a moment, then continued walking. No use in telling them; if they learned who he was, he'd be in even more danger.

Iruka raised his fist in the air as if to shout at the dark-haired man, but Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "He probably just ran into a wall or something," Kakashi told him.

Iruka frowned. "That guy's so unfriendly. What's his problem?"

Back in his hotel room, Sasuke washed the blood off his face. It seemed as though the flow had stopped; the vampires were gone, then. _There might still be strong ones around, but I shouldn't have to worry about them._

He remembered the last time he'd encountered a strong vampire and he found himself staring at the pink rinse water as it spiraled down the sink's drain.

_I'm not going with the Sound…or Akatsuki._

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Kiba sat on the floor at the foot of Hinata's bed a few hours later, bandaging the wounds he'd received from the female slayer. The girl on the bed stirred and he fell still for a moment to listen for any complaints or needs that she'd present to him.

She sighed as she fell back asleep, and Kiba tore a strip of bandages with his teeth.

_That was too close._

Shino entered the room silently and Kiba nodded at him, motioning for Shino to come closer. Hinata's other guard nodded back before joining him as he crouched on the floor.

"They haven't left yet," he whispered.

Kiba let this sink in. "We promised them a full day," he pointed out. Shino nodded and looked over Hinata, his dark eyes searching out the same things as Kiba's had.

"Her father…won't like this," Kiba whispered.

"But it's the best we can do."

Hinata shifted and tried to fall asleep while she listened to her guards discuss their failure. She wasn't ready to speak with her father, but she knew that he'd call soon enough and that she'd have to answer.

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Sakura stretched luxuriously the next morning. Her sleep had only been cut a little short, and she felt prepared to fight vampires. Her body had gone into 'job mode', electrified, energetic, and ready for danger.

She dressed and packed her things before leaving her room, letting it lock behind her. Iruka already had the car open and she threw her suitcase in the back as the dark-skinned man tapped his foot impatiently.

"Aren't Naruto and that guy up yet?" he asked her in irritation.

Sakura shrugged. "I didn't think of checking up on them," she admitted.

Kakashi walked towards their van and Sakura stood at the ready. She'd been on many jobs with him before and, when she saw that the silver-haired man was dressed not as a stay-at-home father but in wear-worthy black pants and a navy shirt, she knew that the attack from the last night had had the same effect on him as it had on her.

Instead of walking up to Iruka, Kakashi stopped in front of Sakura. "We should anticipate another attack soon," he told her firmly. She nodded. "Take care of your brother."

Kakashi walked past her and spoke with Iruka then. His words hadn't escaped Sakura; he had said nothing about the dark-haired man they'd started their journey for.

She remembered his nosebleed from the night before. _He might be sick, _she thought, her eyes straying to the door through which he would exit the building with Naruto, barring the pair's death or kidnapping. _Maybe he just doesn't want to trouble us._

Sasuke had shown her that he wanted nothing to do with her or her concern, and she'd decided to respect that, but on a more personal level she couldn't ignore the fact that there was something wrong with him. Not only that, but for a man to have the attention of the two largest gangs in the country…

The Sound and Akatsuki, rivals for as long as she could remember. She'd been born many years after the vampiric birth explosion, sometimes called the Birthing, sometimes called the Sickness. Akatsuki was specific to that post-plague era; all of its members were vampires.

_Well, _Sakura thought bitterly, _almost all._

The Sound had been around before Akatsuki's time, and its ring leader was a man named Orochimaru. He was well-known for his insanity and his lack of respect for the law. Akatsuki kept its head down outside of business hours; the Sound grinned evilly in the public eye.

The city in which Sakura had once lived had been infested with vampires. They walked in the open and even fed during the daytime. It had been common knowledge in her elementary school that they existed and that the non-vampires were to be cautious of them, though only a few of them were any real danger to the people around them.

Her city had been hit by the disease several times since the Sickness began. This was one of the reasons for the 'infestation'.

Sakura had always walked home with her best friend, Ino. The girls lived across from each other, so their parents had encouraged them from a very early age to stick together for protection. Ino had an older brother, a withdrawn boy who loved to draw.

One day, Ino went home to find that her brother had caught the sickness.

Another bit of common knowledge was that anyone who caught the sickness had two options: live, and become one of them, or die, and remain human. Ino's parents wished for the latter, hoping their son would recover and become a fully-functioning member of society, vampire or not.

Her brother left his room one day when Ino was at school, and while their parents were at work he made a phone call, left a note for his family, and disappeared. Deidara returned home a few weeks later healthier than he'd ever been, and his personality had changed drastically.

Ino was struck by the sight of him stepping out of an expense black car, wearing all-black clothing. He'd changed the way that he wore his hair, and a ring adorned the middle finger of his right hand.

Deidara smiled at his little sister and waved. Their parents ran to him, crying tears of joy as they pulled him into the house.

Sakura had watched the exchange with a frown. They hadn't seemed to understand it. She had seen it.

He was…not the same person.

Deidara left his house later that day, and his parents waved good-bye to him with teary eyes. Ino watched him drive away, realizing that a new path may have been open to her.

When the two girls ate lunch at school the next day, Ino glowed and giggled. "My brother's a prince now!" she said.

Sakura said nothing, and Ino continued.

"He used to be a loser, but ever since he became a vampire he's been so cool!" She sighed and swung her legs underneath the cafeteria table. "I want to be a princess, Sakura," she said happily.

Sakura glared at her. "You don't mean that you want to become a vampire, do you?" she asked, spitting out the ugly word.

Ino narrowed her blue eyes in response, and that one little comment caused a rift to form between them. Sakura began to walk home alone, and she failed to answer her parents when they asked if she'd had a fight with Ino. The blonde girl's appearance changed every time her older brother visited home, and more often than not Sakura snuck peeks out her bedroom window to see Ino dressed just like Deidara, with her hair worn in the same fashion, her clothes and jewelry violet while his were black.

Sakura had detested this.

Vampirism was unnatural, and for a person to become a vampire, and take advantage of the physical changes it brought out in them in order to gain power was perverse. Her disgust echoed to the bottom of her soul, and on one lonely night, unable to communicate her feelings to those around her, she'd decided.

"_I hate vampires."_

When they were twelve, Ino called her out to the school's roof one morning. She was dressed in her brother's style; a short-sleeved satin shirt with a mandarin collar, a matching skirt, and heels. She wore long blonde bangs over the right side of her face, and the rest of her hair was pulled up near the top of her head.

Sakura glared at her former friend's back. "What?" she shouted as she stomped over to Ino.

Ino smirked at her. "So graceless and ugly as usual. I wanted to tell you something before I went, Sakura, but if you don't want to hear it…" she shrugged.

The pink-haired girl stopped short of Ino. "Spit it out!" she cried. "I wanna hear it, Ino!"

She had never really wanted to hear it, but her pride had willed her to ask. She had wanted something else, something that she couldn't realize. She always listened to Ino talk, and yet she never said anything herself.

But Ino loved to talk, and she smiled as she told Sakura what she'd wanted the other girl to hear.

"_I'm going to join him, and become a Princess."_

Sakura was brought back to the present when Sasuke and Naruto exited the building, the latter carrying a suitcase and the former still burdened with the bag of stakes Sakura had given him, a useless gift. Her green eyes softened when she saw Naruto, and he smiled back at her.

"Come on!" she called out to the blonde. "Time to move out!"

He nodded and picked up the pace, leaving the black-haired man to trail behind him.

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Hinata's hands shook as she gave the end of her mission report to her father over her cell phone. "…and I take f-full respons-sibility in the matter." she concluded.

The man was silent for a moment.

"I see that you've failed again. I don't see why the Leader decided to let your group handle Him in the first place," he seethed.

Hinata closed her eyes and sat down on the bathroom floor of her hotel room. She hadn't wanted Kiba and Shino to see her like that, to see her break down while she spoke with her father.

"Understood, Father," she answered.

"Come back at once. There's another mission for the Inuzuka and Aburame boys already, and I know that they will carry it out without any difficulty, so make sure that you don't get in their way," he ordered.

"Yes, Father," she said before closing her phone. The strain of talking to that man made her chest seize, and she could hardly breathe. Resting her head on her knees as she pulled her legs to her chest, the pale-eyed vampire gasped for air, waiting for her lungs to open up.

So, the mission would be handled by someone else. She didn't have the luxury of knowing who it would be, but she knew that they would probably succeed where she had failed.

_Okay_, she thought as she picked herself up. _Shino and Kiba have a mission. Let's get them there, little girl._

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Sasuke stared out the car window for most of that day's trip. It seemed as though the others had decided to keep an eye on him, and he felt uncomfortable under their watch. The blonde had decided to ride the motorcycle again that day, leaving him in the car with the pink-haired woman and her parents.

Kakashi glanced at him a few times through the rearview mirror before calling back to him, "Sasuke, I have a few questions for you." Iruka snored in the seat beside him peacefully as he waited for a response.

The black-haired man turned to face him with a scowl. "What?" he asked.

Kakashi sighed. "How much do you know about vampires?" he asked, trying to keep his tone as civil as possible despite Sasuke's hostility.

Sasuke frowned and said, "They bite people. They drink their blood. If you get sick with a certain disease, you become one."

"Have you ever seen someone turn into a vampire?" Kakashi asked, his eyes on the road.

"That's a sick thing to think about," Sasuke spat. He turned away from Kakashi. "Besides, people don't turn into vampires. They die and their bodies keep going on. They're not the same as humans, in any way, shape or form. They're disgusting, like zombies."

Kakashi shrugged. "Your answer was more elaborate than what I was looking for, despite the fact that you didn't answer the question. Sasuke, did you know that some people are born as vampires?"

Sasuke frowned in response.

"So, would you say that those people are gross, too, when all that they've ever known was life as a vampire?"

"How the hell should I know?" he growled in a low voice, glaring at the other three people in the van. "You people are slayers, you should know more about this crap than I do."

"You seem to have a rather well-formed opinion, though," Sakura pointed out tersely.

Sasuke sat back in his seat and frowned at her. "What do you think of them, then?"

She looked at him for a moment before answering. "You have to evaluate them all differently. You can't say that they're all the same."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked out the window again. They were all the same; ambitious, power-loving, sins against nature.

He knew it better than any of them because he had seen the truth behind truths, the origin of vampires.

_Boy._

The black-haired man closed his eyes, giving his focus to the gentle voice.

_It's alright, boy. You've seen it. Just don't…_

And then the voice faded away.

Sasuke opened his eyes to see a peeved-looking Sakura glaring at him. "Were you listening to me?" she asked him with a frown.

He turned away and she folded her arms. "Never mind," she said. "If you don't care, then I won't tell you."

He narrowed his eyes as he looked out the window. _As if humans were worth saving anyway._

_So annoying._

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When they pulled the van up to a restaurant later that night, one of the waitstaff rushed out and said, "Sorry, we're closing!" as Kakashi shut his door.

The silver-haired man nearly fell over, and the recently awoken Iruka checked his watch with a frown. "It's only eleven!" he shouted angrily.

The waitress took a timid step back and pointed to the sign displaying the restaurant's hours. "We're just open right now because we're trying to get our last customers out. Um, look, there's another place down the road--" she started.

Kakashi put a hand on Iruka's shoulder, and Sakura and Sasuke watched them argue inside the car. "What's taking so long?" Sasuke complained after a few minutes of watching Kakashi hold back an irate Iruka. The waitress ran into the restaurant, but even after she'd gone Iruka and Kakashi continued to argue outside the car.

Sakura shrugged. "They fight a lot. Naruto and I usually don't step in unless they're actually hitting each other."

Sasuke frowned, and though he didn't like the pink-haired woman or care about her family, his curiosity got the better of him. Maybe, he just didn't want to watch the two men argue. Maybe, he was so bored and hungry that he wasn't acting like himself. "Sakura," he asked when he couldn't hold the question back any longer, "are those two really your--"

Sakura turned to him to listen, and her eyes shot open. Sasuke realized why mid-sentence when warm, thick liquid seeped out of his nose and down onto his upper lip. He covered his face with one hand and opened the car door of the door, leaving a confused Sakura to scuttle after him on the car seat.

"Sasuke!" she shouted as he looked around the car and the restaurant. Iruka continued to shout at Kakashi, but the silver-haired man's attention was entirely on Sasuke. Sakura jumped out of the van and ran over to Sasuke.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" she shouted at him, worried. Naruto climbed off his motorcycle and walked forward, eyeing Sasuke's nosebleed with a bit of disgust.

The blonde man whistled as Sasuke turned around to face him. "You sick or something?" he asked, giving the black-haired man a strange look. "Maybe you should lie down instead of running around like a--"

Naruto was cut off when a woman screamed in the restaurant. Kakashi and Sakura forgot about Sasuke and ran to the restaurant doors, trying to pry them open. Naruto watched in confusion, and even Iruka fell silent, as Sakura started to bang on the doors with her bare fists.

"Let us in!" she shouted. Sasuke stared at her and the older slayer, then ran towards them, his face still in his hands.

He shouted, "Get away from there!" Kakashi glanced at him over his shoulder and smiled before shouting, "Iruka, get in the van and lock the doors! Naruto, fetch our swords!"

Iruka gave his lover an uncertain look before jumping into the driver's seat. Naruto did as he was told immediately, but as he walked over to Sakura and Kakashi with two pairs of swords more blood gushed out of Sasuke's nose.

Naruto stared at him in grotesque wonder, and the doors to the restaurant opened. Sakura and Kakashi took a step back when the body of the waitress they'd spoken to fell onto the cement from behind the restaurant doors. Sakura was used to the sight of bodies and blood; she knew them intimately.

It was knowledge of this that made Kakashi worry when Sakura screamed and fell back onto the ground a few seconds later. He looked up from the terrified woman to see a blonde man standing in the doorway, licking blood from his lips as he walked towards them.

"Dei-dei-dei--" Sakura stuttered, her green eyes opened wide.

Sasuke took a few steps back when the blonde man gave Sakura an amused look, advancing towards her now-helpless form. Naruto immediately took his place in front of Sasuke, throwing a pair of swords to Kakashi and strapping the other pair around his own torso. He knew, for some reason, that Sakura was no longer able to accept them.

Deidara kneeled in front of her and touched the bottom of her chin. "Oh, sweet little Cherry Girl, wasn't it…yeah?" he asked. Petrified, Sakura could only stare at him. Kakashi waited for her to react, to attack—she was so close, and the vampire was unguarded!—but her body refused to move.

_Sakura, _Kakashi thought. He gripped a slaying sword in one hand and Deidara threw him a glance. "You planning on using that….yeah?" he asked Kakashi. "When I've got little Sakura…yeah?"

Naruto kept himself at the ready and shouted, "Why does he know your name, Sakura?"

Sakura started to shake, and she suddenly stumbled backwards, clumsy. Kakashi grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her to her feet.

As soon as Sakura was out of his way, Deidara smiled and looked around. His eyes found Sasuke and he opened his mouth as if to speak when a woman's voice penetrated the cool night air. Sakura found herself tightening her grip on Kakashi when a blonde woman walked out of the restaurant, tall heels click-clacking on the cement.

"Deidara!" she shouted. "How many times have I told you not to feed in front of me? Ew! And we were about to leave!"

The blonde man smiled sheepishly. "But Piglet, feeding is only fun when you do it with spontaneity…yeah."

She glared at him before looking around at the others with disinterest. "The fuck?" she asked when she saw Sasuke. A smug smile lit up her face. "Well, I guess it's not such a big deal," she said. He glared, not sure of what she'd meant, and Sakura began to regain composure once the initial shock had worn off

Two men walked out of the restaurant behind her. "Tch," one said in an annoyed voice. He wore his brown hair in a severe-looking ponytail cut short enough to spike up. "It's so annoying when she tries to act cool."

The other one, a man with light brown hair who carried a significant amount of excess baggage around his face, chin, legs, and everywhere in between, opened his mouth to speak but Deidara held up a hand to cut him short.

"Our little vacation's over, boys," he said, putting an arm around his little sister. "It looks like our next mission just fell into our laps…yeah."

Kakashi let Sakura go when she suddenly pushed him away, and she stormed over to the blonde woman who regarded her with disdain.

"Who's the ugly bitch who thinks she can give me bad looks?" she asked. Sakura was undeterred, though, and she walked right up to her and pulled back her fist.

Her punch was blocked by the blonde man with his arm around her shoulders, and Deidara smiled down at her. "Piglet, isn't this your little friend…yeah?" he asked, holding Sakura's hand back easily.

The blonde woman squinted at Sakura's face, and her blue eyes lit up suddenly as she smiled. Pushing her brother's arm down, she hugged Sakura in a friendly embrace. "Princess Sakura!" she cried out. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

Sakura pushed her away and the blonde woman stumbled back with a frown. The men who'd walked out from behind her originally followed Deidara's hand signal and ran on either side of Sakura, holding their positions.

Sasuke swallowed as he watched the pink-haired woman find herself in the middle of a ring, and Naruto's muscles tensed. _Sakura…_

Fury took over her being and she cried out, "Ino, you bitch! You really turned yourself into one of them, didn't you?" as tears burst over her face.

Sasuke watched her hold back sobs, and the flow of blood refused to quit. _Kill them already! _He thought as his head started to feel fuzzy. _They're vampires, so kill them!_

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End file.
